I purchased some Hot Italian Sausage this morning and was going to purchase some buns. I decided to instead do an experiment with the preferment Lehmann dough, that I was incorporating the poolish into the final dough today. After the dough is mixed with the poolish, the dough is balled and then the dough balls cold ferments for one day. I took one dough ball and divided it into 3 pieces and while I was forming the other dough balls, I stretched and folded these 3 pieces of dough about 4 times at different intervals. I then took the dough home with me and let it out at room temperature for 6 hours. The logs or sausage buns did become very sticky and I dusted them with flour and stretched and folded them again and formed them into sausage rolls. Dusted the pizza peel and put them on the baking stone. These sausage rolls turned out better than I expected.

I also grilled the Hot Italian Sausage on my BBQ grill. In a separate pan I put some little red onions and a pepper from my garden in olive oil on the BBQ grill.

The Italian Hot Sausage was dressed with Lesís sauce, on the sausage bun.

But seriously folks, they look great - airy and moist with a crispy exterior. I could go for one of those about now!

PizzaHog,

No one will ever know if I have "hot Italian buns", but I did make some. That is my secret.

Thanks for saying the Hot Italian Sausage Buns looked great. They did have a crispy exterior and were moist inside. You just never know what pizza dough can make until you try something different than pizza with pizza dough.

By the way, Norma, the basil clipping in water trick worked for me too. I have two of them in a mason jar, and they're both sprouting roots. I'm planning on planting them if it ever stops raining here in Austin.

By the way, Norma, the basil clipping in water trick worked for me too. I have two of them in a mason jar, and they're both sprouting roots. I'm planning on planting them if it ever stops raining here in Austin.

Ron,

Thanks! When I need some more buns for Hot Italian Sausage buns or maybe even hamburgers buns, I will try this experiment again. I should have formed this buns better, but I was just doing an experiment to see if this pizza dough would work, without cold fermenting the dough for one day. It seems like doing the stretch and folds did make these buns airy. I also thought the buns might not have a good taste, since the dough wasnít cold fermented. Letting the dough sit out for a room temperature ferment after mixing the dough, did make the buns taste good. I wanted to eat the buns with the Hot Italian Sausage, while they were still warm. If I had let them sit longer, the inside of the buns probably would have looked better. I had one leftover bun, that I tasted last evening and it was still moist on the inside.

Great to hear the basil trick worked for you too. I have the one basil plant in a container outside now. It is growing. I had cut another basil cutting the same day I planted the other one outside. What I found interesting from that experiment was, the first basil clipping, I had cut with a scissors and that basil plant did form roots on the bottom, as I had posted in my other thread. The basil cutting I did second, I just pinched off with my fingers. That basil cutting acted all together different. It formed roots up much farther on the stem. I am going to post a picture on my other thread about finding perennials and seeds, about how different that plant formed roots. It seems like the second plant wasnít going to form rootís, but it did, but on a different spot.

Norma those sure do look delicious! What types of peppers do you grow? I personally like the Corno di Toro or "bull's horn" Italian peppers. They are awesome for grilling and eating directly. If you're into making you're own sausage, www.sausagesource.com has a fantastic sausage mix that you just add to ground pork. It's the best I have found on the internet. I haven't made this dish in a while, so thanks for sparking my taste buds again. The only thing I see missing is MUSTARD! Tons of it.

Norma those sure do look delicious! What types of peppers do you grow? I personally like the Corno di Toro or "bull's horn" Italian peppers. They are awesome for grilling and eating directly. If you're into making you're own sausage, www.sausagesource.com has a fantastic sausage mix that you just add to ground pork. It's the best I have found on the internet. I haven't made this dish in a while, so thanks for sparking my taste buds again. The only thing I see missing is MUSTARD! Tons of it.

DNA Dan,

Thanks for saying the sausage and buns look delicious. I donít remember what kind of peppers there are. I have three kinds of peppers growing in my garden and forgot to put little stakes to be able to remember their names. They were a kinda skinny long peppers, if that helps. I never heard of the ďbullsĒ horn Italian peppers, but might look for them next year. I never tried to make my own sausage, but I will look at the link you provided. That sausage mix sounds great! Sorry, I didnít use mustard for this sausage, but I really do like all kinds of mustard and like you, really like a lot.

Did you make any pretzels lately? Yours were killer looking. I got away from the pretzels, this summer, but want to make some this winter.

I've never seen Corno di toro's at the store sold as plants. I always have to grow them from seed. You can find some here: http://www.tomatogrowers.com/sweet2.htm That site also has one of the most extensive pepper selections I've seen on the internet. Their tomato selection is quite large too, however some varieties I bought from them didn't germinate so well. I typically do the red and yellow ones a few minutes on the charbroiler, sliced in strips then sauteed with onions, garlic, basil and olive oil. Sometimes I'll throw in a sprig of rosemary but use sparingly as this can take away from the basil. You have to cook it nice and slow so the pepper skins get soft without making mush out of the onions. I'll be making sausage in a few weeks, I have 1/2 a pig currently being cut up and processed.

Speaking of pretzels, I actually just made some the other day! I've been experimenting with brewer's yeast for my pizza crusts so I haven't done anything lately with the pretzel crust. I like to put Easy Cheese in a can on the pretzels. I know it sounds gross, but it's the closest thing I can find that tastes like the cheese that Hot Sam used to use. It was an aged, sharp cheddar dip, and they would put the pretzel on a stick then dip the face in it. Aww man was it the best! It was such a treat. Have you been able to buy anything from Abel and Schafer? I still want to try some of the cakes and breads they offer.

Thanks for telling me where you buy the pepper seeds. I have problems germinating plants from seed. I did get some seeds to germinate this year, but might have to try a different approach next year. The way you make your peppers sound delicious. Our area is known for people eating too much of everything. The Pa. Dutch people sure arenít health conscious, in the way they prepare foods, but I try somewhat not to eat too much of that stuff.

Your making sausage in a few weeks sounds great. I would be interested in seeing what your homemade sausage looks like. In our area there are many businesses that make their own sausage in many different varieties.

Your experimenting with brewerís yeast sounds interesting. What kind of results to you get with using the brewerís yeast in pizzas?

Any kind of cheese sounds good to me. There is a places near me that makes their own cheeses and I will try about any kind. Your description of what Hot Sam did sounds very tasty. I didnít buy anything from Abel and Schafer. I have been trying too many different experiments with pizzas in the last few months.

I am going to make regular sweet and some hot this time around. I can post some pics once I'm finished if you like.

So far the brewer's yeast isn't working so great. I am chronicling the results in the Round Table Pizza forum under American style. They generate some good smells, but the refrigeration is just killing them off. The dough ends up spoiling before the yeast really take off. I went back to trying malt liquor or beer. I just found last night that if I boil off the alcohol I can get ADY to proof directly in the beer itself. I'll be cooking this pie tonight.

I donít know if funnel cakes are just around our area or also in other areas. I did have a market stand that I made funnel cakes. I had tried my hand at making good ones from scratch, but found a mix that I just had to add water to. Those funnel cakes were good. I miss them. The only part about making the funnel cakes that I didnít like, was boiling out the fryer.

I would like if you could post pictures of your sausage. Sausage is another food I really like.

I had always wondered how the brewerís yeast would work out in making a dough. I will be interested in seeing your pie that you make tonight, if you have time to post pictures.

I will probably create a new one or stop posting about getting a "malty, yeasty taste" in that forum because it's really starting to deviate from the purpose of that thread, which is replicating Round Table Pizza. There is a particular flavor profile I am trying to create and it's not RT pizza per se.

Thanks for posting the link. I can now see what you were doing. I was following that thread, but had never tried a Round Table Pizza before, so didnít really know what kind of pizza that was. I will be watching to see what you come up with in your next experiment.

Norma, here are some photos of the sausage making the other day. I know it's off topic and probably better in the "other foods" threads, but I posted them here since it's relevant to the original post. I am going to have to dig through some family recipes and just make my own seasoning concoction. I am finding sausagesource.com suffering from some consistency issues. Last time I ordered the seasoning was hotter than I remember it. This time it was way too salty and lacked that fennel punch. Anyway, only a few pics because it's hard to do this without making a mess out of the camera!

Norma, here are some photos of the sausage making the other day. I know it's off topic and probably better in the "other foods" threads, but I posted them here since it's relevant to the original post. I am going to have to dig through some family recipes and just make my own seasoning concoction. I am finding sausagesource.com suffering from some consistency issues. Last time I ordered the seasoning was hotter than I remember it. This time it was way too salty and lacked that fennel punch. Anyway, only a few pics because it's hard to do this without making a mess out of the camera!

DNA Dan,

The pictures of your sausage making skills are really good! How many years have you been making your own sausage? The sausage looks delicious, too. Sorry to hear that sausagesource.com is suffering from some consistency issues. Since you do know what kind of flavor profile you want, you should be able to make your own seasonings. Usually if I know how I want something to taste, I will mix seasonings or spices and see if that is something I want. I just add a few seasonings, spices, or herbs and then taste it. Maybe it might taste a little salty before it is added to the ground meat, but at least you could have an idea of how it might taste. I can imagine how good a sausage made with sun-dried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and spices added would taste. They have so many kinds of sausage where I live. They even have sausage made with apples. If I think about it sometime when I am at market or at our local grocery store, I will take some pictures for you to be able to see all the kinds of sausages in our area. Most of the butchers in our area do make all the kinds of sausage fresh.

I took some pictures at market yesterday of what different butchers sausages look like in our area. These butchers do make their sausages fresh. I know these butchers. If you want me to ask some of them what brand of seasonings they use, I will ask them to see if there could be some other place for you to purchase seasonings, since you said that your current supplier was having consistency issues.